By Conor Ryan | Comments Off on Pierre McGuire on M&M: Brad Marchand ‘running out of race track pretty fast’

NBC Sports hockey analyst Pierre McGuire joined Mut & Merloni on Thursday afternoon to discuss the Bruins’ upcoming game against the Blues, the recent struggles of Brad Marchand, as well as other news from across the NHL.

Boston have been rolling as of late, winning six out of its last seven games. Despite the dominant run in November, some members of the Bruins have been slumping, namely Marchand. The 25-year-old winger has yet to really find his bearings so far this year, as he has seen a dip in his production (eight points in 21 games) while increasing his turnovers and penalties. Bruins coach Claude Julien‘s frustration with Marchand has become apparent over the last few days, as Marchand was demoted to the fourth line during Monday night’s 4-1 win over Carolina.

“[Marchand’s] just going through tough times right now as a player on the ice and he’s not helping himself at all,” McGuire said. “He is running out of race track pretty fast in terms of some of his decision-making.”

The Bruins will have a tough task in their next game, as they will face off against the Blues, who hold the third seed in the Western Conference with a 14-3-3 record. St. Louis, off to its best 20-game start in franchise history, has gotten a big boost from Alexander Steen, who leads the NHL with 17 goals.

“[St. Louis] learned a lot from their first-round loss to Los Angeles last year, where it was just a battle of attrition,” McGuire said. It was just unbelievably savage the entire series and obviously Steenis off to a great start. It’s the depth of their team. … they remind me so much of the Boston Bruins. They really do.The teams are so similar. … This is a great game you guys are going to have tonight. Unbelievable game.”

Elsewhere in the NHL, a former Bruin’s play is starting to attract attention, as Panthers goaltender Tim Thomashas been viewed as a possible candidate to the U.S. Olympic team. Thomas has bounced back from a poor start to post solid numbers over the last month (2.49 goals-against average, .915 save percentage in November).

“He’s definitely worked his way back into the discussion, I can tell you that right now,” McGuire said. “He’s back into the discussion, that doesn’t mean that he’s going to make the team. One of the reasons why he’s back in the discussion, the injury to Jonathan Quick, who won’t be back until December, maybe even not until the middle of December. The other thing is Craig Anderson and Jimmy Howard have both been lukewarm … and Cory Schneider is sitting on the bench in New Jersey behind Martin Brodeur.”

In one week, Scott Clemmensen will be wrapping up his NHL season as the back-up goalie to Tomas Vokoun with the Florida Panthers.

His season will end on the same weekend his alma mater will be looking for its second NCAA hockey championship in three years as the Boston College Eagles take on the Miami Redhawks in the national semifinals on Thursday in Detroit.

It was in 2001, Clemmensen’s senior year at the Heights, when he led the Eagles to their first NCAA hockey title in 52 years.

Drafted by the Devils in 1997, Clemmensen had a successful career at BC before becoming the first player born in Iowa to play in the NHL.

He played his first NHL game in 2004 and spent parts of several seasons with the Devils and Maple Leafs before signing on as a free agent last summer with Florida.

On Thursday night, he turned away all 36 Bruins shots for a 1-0 win, his first shutout of the season.

“I was hoping I got my first shut out before April,” Clemmensen quipped. “Better late than never.

“They came at us pretty good. We killed penalties really well. I got kind of lucky on some saves here and there. I know they are a little bit of a snake bitten team right now and that played to my advantage. A couple of those saves I got pretty lucky.”

To do what he did on Thursday took on added significance because of the building he was in.

“I will always have a special place in my heart for Boston,” he said. “I love this city and obviously BC alumni here in this building. I have a lot of good memories in this building as well. A couple bad ones too, so I am trying to stock pile as many as I can. While I’m still playing that is the time to do it.”

He even took time to look up in the rafters for some of the banners he’s responsible for.

“Absolutely. I looked at both sides of the scoreboard during the national anthem,” he said with a proud smile. “Both sides have it; Beanpot champs and Hockey East champs. I expect it every year really.”

As for the current edition of the Eagles, he’ll find time to pay attention next weekend.

“I hope BC wins it,” Clemmensen said. “I wish they played this weekend but they do not want to compete with basketball. We are going to have to wait and I wish coach [Jerry] York nothing but the best.”

If the Bruins somehow miss the playoffs, it would be appropriate that they do so by one point.

After all, this has been the year of the near-miss for the Bruins offense. The Bruins trail 1-0 after 40 minutes on Keith Ballard’s first-period goal.

Just watching the second period, fans witnessed a microcosm of what has been missing this season – the finishing touch.

Twice in the second period, Bruins began to raise their sticks in expectation of a goal, only to discover their shots were near-misses. Mark Recchi re-directed a shot in front of Scott Clemmensen midway through the second and felt confident it was past the Florida netminder as he raised his stick. The puck deflected wide.

With just five minutes left in the period, Milan Lucic had an even better chance and wristed it just high and wide when he thought it was in. Lucic wasn’t the only one fooled as one of the on-ice officials saw the water bottle on the net behind Clemmensen twitch and thought the puck might have gone in and out.

At the next stoppage – several minutes later – the play was reviewed and it was revealed that Clemmenson’s stick handle was the culprit.

The Bruins applied constant pressure throughout the period, spending most of the period in the Florida zone and outshooting Florida, 17-10.

Another Thursday night and another inexplicably flat first period against a non-playoff bound team from Florida.

This time, it was the Florida Panthers who grabbed the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes thanks to a shaky goal off the stick of defenseman Keith Ballard at 7:15 of the first period.

Ballard pinched up the slot and didn’t appear to get all of the puck but enough that it changed directions on Tuukka Rask and fluttered by as Patrice Bergeron was standing by helplessly watching it go in.

The goal ended Rask’s impressive shutout streak at 121 minutes, 42 seconds. Before the game, Rask was honored with the ‘Seventh Player Award’ for the Bruins player who ‘goes above and beyond’ the expectations of fans.

The only highlight for the Bruins came when Johnny Boychuk laid out Victor Oreskovich along the left corner boards just moments after the Panthers’ goal.

Last season, as the Bruins were on their way to 53 regular season wins and first place in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs, things couldn’t have been much better in the month of November. They went 11-1-1, racking up 23 of a possible 26 points in the month.

What a difference a year makes. This year the Bruins are 2-2-2 in six November games. Tim Thomas recorded his second straight shutout on Thursday night but it wasn’t good enough for a win. The Bruins were beaten in a shootout, 1-0, by a Florida Panthers team that was 5-9-1 coming in.

It was their third shutout loss and the eighth time they have scored fewer than two goals in a contest. Amazing they are even approaching .500 with an 8-8-2 mark.

How bad are things right now? They Bruins not only didn’t score in the 60 minutes of regulation, outshooting Florida 19-1 alone in the second period, they were held scoreless in the five-minute overtime. They failed to light the lamp in their first three shootout chances. And when Thomas gave them another chance by stopping the first three shootout attempts himself, he had reason or hope to think the Bruins would break through.